He’d never given much thought to the whole Dominance and submission thing Dex and Slade were into, but watching Hannah’s pretty backside turn bright pink under Slade’s hand had flat out done something for him. He’d imagined it was his own hands holding her down, administering discipline. He would have turned her over and forced her to ride him.
But she was a virgin. God, he didn’t want to think about that, about the fact that before too long, she wouldn’t have her virginity anymore—and one of his brothers would be the privileged man taking it.
“Have you heard from the Lenox brothers, yet?” Slade kept his voice low, in deference to the sleeping pair.
Gavin was grateful for the reprieve from his dark thoughts. When he found Hannah’s stalker, he would think of an excellent way to take more of his frustration out on the asshole. “They sent a text saying they have all the data. It will take them a few days to go through everything.”
“We can always hope this sick fuck walked past a couple of security cameras with the package.”
“Yes, we can hope.”
Gavin watched the terrain slide by. It was high summer in Alaska, and the ground was covered in colors he never saw in Texas. Rich, vibrant flowers formed a carpet that led from the road to the flat, plain that seemed to go on for days. Even the grass was a lush Technicolor green.
“I always loved it here,” Slade said, his gaze trailing to the mountains in the distance. “I felt free.”
“We were certainly much freer than we were at home.” Gavin knew his strict father thought that sending Slade and him up here every summer was some form of punishment. Stuart James had told his nine- and five-year-old boys that they needed to toughen up, and that Alaska would make them men.
His father really had been blind. What he and Slade had discovered in River Run was real kindness and affection for the first time in their lives.
“Marnie says her cabbage won first place at the fair this year.” Slade smiled as he spoke of the woman who had met them at the airstrip that first day. Marnie ran the local tavern and knew how to handle roughnecks with ease. She’d also known how to deal with two scared boys.
He wondered if she would have any advice for one conflicted man.
Gavin turned away, staring out at the landscape. Honestly, he had no reason to be conflicted.
He was realistic. The past had proven to him, in the ugliest way possible, that he couldn’t put anyone fragile in his hands. He was too broken to care for Hannah like she deserved. Getting aroused by watching his brothers touch her pussy and bring her to orgasm didn’t mean anything except he was male and healthy.
“You and Dex have barely said two words to each other.”
Gavin realized that, but at least Dex had gotten on the plane with him. “Dex was far too busy with Hannah to speak to me. And we shouldn’t pretend like he isn’t here listening to every word we say.”
Slade waved off that thought. “He’s the soundest sleeper I know. A nuclear bomb could go off, and Dex would sleep through it. He told me that he grew up in some of the loudest homes imaginable, and he had to train himself to sleep through anything.” Gavin hadn’t heard the stories, but he’d read the files the private investigator had compiled.
Dex had grown up rough. His mother had been one of Stuart James’s many girlfriends. She’d been a stripper. When she’d turned up pregnant, he’d given Roxanne Townsend a check for ten thousand dollars and told her to get an abortion. Roxanne had ignored the orders, but she’d died in a car accident when Dex was seven. He’d spent the next ten years in and out of foster homes until the day Gavin and Slade had found him.
“He looks up to you,” Slade said.
Gavin doubted that. “He sees me as his boss.”
Slade’s head shook. “That’s not true. He’s only closer to me because we went to college together. Dad had just died. You were twenty-two, and you had to take the reins of a multi-billion-dollar company.”
“And deal with a hostile takeover.” A group of board members had tried to wrest control, thinking that Gavin was just a kid. He’d proven then that he could swim with the sharks.
Now he made sure they damn well knew he could lead them, as well.
“And Nikki died just a few months after that.” The soft words landed with a thud Slade couldn’t possibly have intended.
Gavin felt his whole body go cold. “We’re not talking about that.”
“Maybe we should. She’s been a ghost in your life all this time, holding you back. You have to move on. You loved her, and she died. You can’t blame yourself. Gavin, wouldn’t she have wanted you to be happy? What happened was tragic, but not your fault.” Except it had been his fault, and it had cost far more of his soul than Slade could possibly know to keep that fact from everyone. But you also kept all the nasty stuff out of the papers. You protected the family’s good name. Too bad that was all you protected.